(I am volunteering at a local agricultural fair that takes place in my county every year. Participants are exhibiting livestock such as cows, horses, goats, and chickens. All the animals on the fairgrounds are being housed in large barns that are open to the fairgoers. My job is to supervise one of the barns and make sure that people are safely interacting with the animals. The particular barn I am assigned to is one that houses goats and cows. I notice a woman and her five-year-old son going up to a pen with a very large bull in it. This particular breed of bull is known for being aggressive to humans.)

Me: “Excuse me, ma’am. I would advise to you not to get too close to the bull, as he is not very friendly towards humans.”

Woman: “Oh, don’t worry about it. I understand animals and their behavior. I have three dogs at home!”

Me: “Right. It’s just that bulls can act very unpredictably towards humans, and we have had some instances in the past where guests were harmed by the animals.

Woman: “I am not an idiot. Don’t tell me how to properly interact with the animals.”

(I shrug it off and walk away, thinking nothing of it. A couple moments later, I turn back around to see the mother trying to boost her son up over the fence into the bull’s pen.)

Me: “Ma’am, what do you think you’re doing?”

(I rush over to the pen and call security.)

Woman: “I want my son to get a better look at the cow!”

Me: “For God’s sake, please stop! You can seriously hurt your son!”

(Fortunately, security arrived. They were able to escort the woman off the fairgrounds. To this day, that remains, by far, the most shocking and unbelievable interaction I have had with a fairgoer!)

(In the days leading up to hurricane Irma, our portable power supplies have been selling out immediately after each shipment.)

Customer: “Do you have any of those things that are solar powered, or that you charge, and then you can charge your phone from them?”

Me: “Sorry, we’re sold out.”

(I go back to work, but a few minutes later the customer is at the counter, taking to my coworker.)

Customer:*says something I don’t catch* “…and I wanted to show her this, because I asked if you had any and she said you don’t.”

(I see that she is holding a standard wireless charger.)

Me: “Actually, ma’am, that’s not a power bank. The way that works is you plug it into the wall and then you can charge your phone by laying it on top of that, instead of plugging your phone in. It still needs a power source to work.”

Customer: “Oh, thank you. I just wanted to make sure.”

(I think nothing of this until about an hour later when I’m on lunch. I go to the deli to buy a hot meal, and the employee that comes to help stops when she sees me and glares.)

Employee: “What do you want?”

(I order, and while she’s getting my food she starts talking to another employee next to her, loudly.)

Employee: “So, let me tell you about what this cashier just did.”

(The guy next to her just grunts, as he’s helping someone, too.)

Employee: “I sent my mom to go buy a charger for my phone for the storm, and the cashier tried to talk her out of it. She said it wouldn’t work because it’s wireless, but that’s not true.”

Coworker: “Why would they lie?”

Employee: “Well, the only reason I can figure is so they can get it themselves.”

(The guy grunted again, then walked away to weigh his customer’s food. The employee helping me followed him, and continued to complain out of earshot. When she was done, she came back and wordlessly handed my food to me, still glaring. I put on my biggest smile and said thanks. I hope that she doesn’t lose power.)

I work at a popular second-hand retail chain. About once a week a lady comes in near closing and asks to try on lots of clothing, and to look into the jewelry case. She is extremely picky and takes as long as possible at the register, and all the while being very rude to the cashiers and to me at the fitting rooms.

I take a piece of cardboard, draw a big smiley face on it, and smack it against my forehead to greet the few customers we have when they walk by. The rude woman in question does her best to ignore me, until she finally starts the checkout process with my manager.

Running up to customer service, I shout, “[Manager]!” and smack the smiley face against my forehead. My manager has to nearly stop the transaction from trying not to laugh.

The rude woman remains silent but cracks a smile.

Every time she’s been in the store since, she has been quicker and not raised her voice once. She also says, “There’s my little friend!” to greet me. Now, she uses pleasant conversation to slow down the transactions. Hey! It’s a good improvement.

(There is a popular sushi restaurant five minutes down the street from my home. Every Friday after work I like to treat myself to dinner by ordering delivery. I order the same thing every week: steamed dumplings and a roll. Because the restaurant is so close to my home, the delivery is normally pretty quick, but not so tonight. I place the order, and they give me the regular 30- to 40-minute estimate — normally it comes in 15 — and I start to wait. Forty-five minutes later, I still haven’t received my order, so I call to check the status.)

Me: “Hello. I put in my order about 45 minutes ago and I haven’t received it. Can I check the status?”

Associate:*after checking with coworkers* “Yes, your order is on its way. Sorry for the delay; it has been a busy night.”

(I thank them and settle down again. After about 20 or 30 more minutes, I get antsy and call them back.)

Me: “Hi, my name is [My Name], and I made an order an hour ago. I called a while ago, and they said the order was on its way, but it’s still not here.”

Manager: “I’m sorry. The delivery is on its way. There were a few orders going out, so he is probably delivering those first.”

(At this point I’m a little peeved, but having worked customer service myself, I am sympathetic and don’t mind waiting. However, another 45 minutes pass, and at this point my stomach is rumbling, so I call them back again.)

Me: “Hello. I ordered my food almost two hours ago. I’ve called back multiple times and I’ve been told my food is on its way, but I haven’t received anything. I don’t know if I should just cancel the order?”

Manager: “I’m so sorry to hear that. I will contact the driver to see where he’s at and call you back.”

Me: “Okay.”

(I wait maybe five minutes with no call back, so I call the restaurant. Suddenly, the manager is not available. I’m deciding between going to the restaurant to pick up the food or just cancelling altogether when I finally get a call back.)

Manager: “I spoke to the driver and the food is delivered.”

Me: “I’m sorry. I do not have my order. No one has come by here all night.”

(At this point, I even check my front step to see if the driver just left it without knocking, but nothing is there.)

Manager: “Okay. I will see what happened.”

(Thankfully, at this point I get an almost immediate call back.)

Manager: “I am so sorry. He delivered it to the wrong house. We will make sure to get you your food right away!”

Me: “Thank you.”

(At this point I decided to just stick with it. I was super hungry, but I expected that they’d try to get my food out as quick as possible. However, only five minutes later, my doorbell rang. I thought this was way too fast but assumed that they were speeding to “please the customer.” I paid the delivery guy, tipped him the normal amount despite the fact that it had been over two hours since I made my order, and got ready to dig in. I opened the container and, to my horror, saw that the food was partially eaten and picked through! Instead of remaking my order, the delivery man went to the wrong address, got the food back from them, and delivered it! Grossed out, I had finally had enough. I re-packaged the food and drove down to the restaurant. I asked for the manager and showed him the partially-eaten food. He didn’t even apologize. If anything, he seemed annoyed that he had to continue dealing with me. He remade the food and gave me the new batch. I’m not normally one to feel entitled, but I was surprised he didn’t even offer to reimburse the delivery charge or give me a free appetizer. That was my first bad experience with that location, but I assume they must have been under new management, because it was the start of many experiences of bad service. I haven’t eaten there in years now.)

(I’m in my economics class. My class is known for goofing around, but we still do our work. My teacher is sort of laid back with us, so we joke with her about things. Our teacher is giving a lecture until we start getting off topic. I can’t remember how exactly we got to this, but we are talking about death in older people. Also, the teacher has been sick and going to the doctor, and recently had surgery.One girl is talking to the teacher. Everyone can hear her, speaking in a uncaring voice.)

Girl #1: “What’s the point, if you’re going to die, anyway?”

(In a split second everyone turns to her and gasps in shock.)

Classmate #1: “What is wrong with you?!”

Classmate #2: “How can you just say that?!”

Classmate #3: “Wow, [Girl #1]!”

Classmate #4: “What the f***?!”

(The teacher is just shocked, and [Girl #1] realizes what she just said.)

Teacher: “Well, guys, if I’m not here tomorrow… You should know why.”

Girl #1:*stammering* “I mean, we all die in the end.”

Girl #2: “[Girl #1], if your average in the class suddenly goes down, you should know why.”